Lauren's Story

Lauren Cohan was born on January 7, 1982, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her scottish mother converted to Judaism when she married Cohan's stepfather, so she was raised in the Jewish religion from the age of five (she had a Bat Mitzvah). She has a younger stepsister. Before she moved in United Kingdom, she spent her childhood in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, then she moved back to US when she was 22. Later, she went to the University of Winchester (must be destiny to make her interact with Winchester brothers in Supernatural) / King Alfred's College and she granduated successfully drama and english literature. She also, co-founded a theatre company at the University. With it, she toured before moving to London "to try and get one of our plays shown" explains Lauren. "And at that time, I went to meet with an agent, so did one of the other guys in the group and we both were successful in getting films in a few weeks. So we were like 'We'll do (the play) in the spring, or in the summer', but then things just kind of got off the ground with films and TV stuff. I really miss doing stage though, I really do."

Then she split her time and work between London and Los Angeles, as she built her acting resume working on several films and non-comercial projects.In 2005 she had her movie debut as Sister Beatrice in Casanova.

The role of Bela Talbot in season 3 of Supernatural was her first recurring character on a TV show, and Lauren wondered, when she landed the part of Rose (in The Vampire Diaries), if supernatural shows on the CW would become her thing. But a role in Chuck (playing Vivian) mixed it up for the actress. The CW wasn't ready to let Lauren go, though: so the network cast her in a pilot called "Heavenly" in wich she plays the lawyer who works alongside an "ex-angel".

Says Lauren about The Vampire Diaries: "For me (growing up) it was My So Called Life and Dawson's Creek and they were my kind of emotional, and it made sense for what I was going through. This generation does that with vampires and action. Paul, Nina & Ian are just gorgeous and really good. It was fun to watch the scenes I wasn't filming." Lauren chopped off her hair for the role and found playing an "unglamorous" role a refreshing change: "It gave me a chance to explore things I hadn't gotten to before ... it liberates me. Rose wasn't about being glamorous, she was about genuine friendship."